GUWAHATI, Nov 5 � Senior journalist Dhirendra Nath Bezboruah has been awarded compensation of Rs 10 lakh by the court of the Civil Judge, Number 2, Kamrup (Metro), on a suit filed by him for a defamatory report published against him in The North East Times.
In the Title Suit No. 100/2003, filed by Bezboruah against GL Publications, GL Agarwalla, Editor, The North East Times, and its printer, the plaintiff was awarded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and the cost of the suit. The judge�s order also stipulated that the plaintiff was entitled to get interest on the compensation amount at the rate of 8 per cent per annum from the date of decree till realisation.
The Title Suit No. 100/2003, filed in 2003, had arisen from a defamatory and libellous front-page editorial written jointly by GL Agarwalla and the late KK Purkayastha, the then General Manager of GL Publications Ltd, in the April 10, 2002 issue of The North East Times titled �Bon Voyage � Flight to Disaster� wherein without naming the plaintiff (DN Bezboruah), imputations were made against him, his son and his daughter �with the intent to malign the plaintiff which stigmatised the honesty, integrity and the reputation of the plaintiff.� The court held that �the news item/editorial in question has stigmatised the integrity, honesty and reputation of the plaintiff and the same is also false, defamatory, motivated and concocted and accordingly, the decision on both these issues goes in favour of the plaintiff.�
The plaintiff was represented by S Sharma, J Deka and AK Choudhury, advocates, and the defendants were represented by G Choudhury, P Borah and AK Haloi, advocates, said Bezboruah.
